Through square foot gardening, medicinal herb gardening, alternative energy, becoming debt free, being thrifty, food storage, and small livestock we plan to survive retirement without working until we drop dead!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Planning more than seeds

Starting seeds in the house is really a nuisance. I love to do it, but we don't have much space for it. Over the years we've set up lights in shelving units and set up an area in the basement, but nothing works better for me than natural light. My seedlings get spindly under the lights even when I keep the lights lowered to just above the tops of the plants. I also plan to start tomatoes earlier because they usually don't ripen early enough to enjoy throughout the summer.
We have one south facing window that husband built a wide sill for. I put a heat mat there and a 72 cell seed flat will fit nicely. The first early spring veggies begin their days here in February. Broccoli, kale, lettuce, cabbage, Swiss chard, and this year for the first time broad beans. The time the "earlies" spend on the sill interferes with the seed starting times of my tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, and there isn't room for both groups. So I've been daydreaming of building a greenhouse over a couple of the raised beds that could easily be assembled and then easily disassembled when those two beds need to be planted.